From the 1Department of Family Medicine, Severance Hospital, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Korea; and 2Department of Family Medicine, Chung-Ang University Medical Center, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea.
Menopause. 2014 Jan;21(1):39-44. doi: 10.1097/GME.0b013e318291f6c8.
Mainly secreted in the pineal gland, melatonin is a neurohormone that has versatile functions, including cellular protection. Decreased melatonin levels are associated with the aging process and age-related conditions. Melatonin may be associated with sarcopenia because it is one of the most common age-related diseases and because disrupted cellular vitality in skeletal muscle is known to be involved in its pathogenesis. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between first-morning-urine 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) levels and sarcopenia in Korean postmenopausal women.
Seventy-eight Korean postmenopausal women participated. Biomarkers of metabolic risk factors, along with the presence of sarcopenia, were assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Urine aMT6s levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
The prevalence of sarcopenia increased significantly with increasing aMT6s quartiles. Furthermore, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the fourth aMT6s quartile was associated with sarcopenia, with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.13 (95% CI, 0.03-0.70; P = 0.02).
Our study shows an inverse association between urine melatonin and sarcopenia, suggesting that melatonin may have a protective role in the pathophysiology of sarcopenia. Further studies are required to better understand the clinical significance of our findings.
褪黑素主要在松果体中分泌，是一种具有多种功能的神经激素，包括细胞保护。褪黑素水平降低与衰老过程和与年龄相关的疾病有关。褪黑素可能与肌肉减少症有关，因为它是最常见的与年龄相关的疾病之一，而且众所周知，骨骼肌肉中细胞活力的破坏与它的发病机制有关。因此，我们研究了韩国绝经后妇女晨尿 6-硫酸褪黑素（aMT6s）水平与肌肉减少症之间的关系。
78 名韩国绝经后妇女参与了这项研究。使用双能 X 射线吸收法评估代谢危险因素的生物标志物以及肌肉减少症的存在。使用酶联免疫吸附试验测量尿液 aMT6s 水平。
随着 aMT6s 四分位间距的增加，肌肉减少症的患病率显著增加。此外，多变量逻辑回归分析显示，第四 aMT6s 四分位间距与肌肉减少症相关，调整后的优势比为 0.13（95%置信区间，0.03-0.70；P=0.02）。
我们的研究表明尿液褪黑素与肌肉减少症之间存在负相关关系，表明褪黑素可能在肌肉减少症的病理生理学中具有保护作用。需要进一步的研究来更好地理解我们研究结果的临床意义。
